Holy Week — the week between Palm Sunday and Easter — is the heart of the Christian year. This is the time when we remember Jesus’ final days, his passion and death, and ultimately his glorious resurrection. We’re deliberate about walking through this story step by step, inviting God to draw us more deeply into the great truth that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead so that we might have life in him.

It is THE week when those of us who are in the church have a profoundly different experience from those who are not. Most of you will work during the day. Many of you have plans for spring break while the kids are off from school. Let me encourage you to not miss this week, to not treat it like the other 51. We have an opportunity to take a journey together.

Here are all the details you need for each corporate worship gathering. Please look for notes on the liturgy, childcare, parking, and what you need to bring. I look forward to walking alongside you.

Palm Sunday: March 29 at 9am, 11am, 5pm

We’ll begin our worship outside on the front terrace, waving palms and shouting, “Hosanna!” We’ll end our worship with the story of Jesus’ trial and execution, shouting, “Crucify him!” It’s a powerful, ironic journey in just 90 minutes — and a bit of a preview of the week to come.

Preschool-5th grade Kids’ Small Groups check in will be outside. Nursery check in will be inside.

Morning Prayer: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7am

Each morning we will gather for 30 minutes to focus our attention on the passion of our Lord and to listen to the voice of our Father in heaven.

Kids are welcome, but there is no childcare provided.

Please park in the lot that is adjacent to our building.

Maundy Thursday: April 2 at 7:30 pm

The liturgy includes a service of footwashing and ends with the Holy Eucharist. We remember the story of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples, when he taught them to serve each other and to remember him in the breaking of bread.

Kids are welcome in the service. There is a nursery available for those who are 2 and under.

Good Friday: April 3, 9am-5pm

The sanctuary will be open for silent prayer and meditation from 9am until 5pm. There will be an opportunity for you to nail a piece of paper with your sins written down to a cross as part of your confession.

At 12pm, 1pm, and 2 pm, there will be guided reflections on the stations of the cross for adults and children. Our RestoArts team has worked hard to create images that will be used to remember these key points in Jesus’ passion.

Kids are welcome to participate in the stations and to nail their confessions to the cross. There is no childcare provided and please be aware of others who are gathered for silent prayer.

Please park in the lot that is adjacent to our building.

Good Friday: April 3 at 7:30pm

In the evening we will have a corporate worship gathering that focuses on the Seven Last Words of Christ. The liturgy is done in the darkness and is a beautifully poignant series of reflections, prayers, and music.

Kids are welcome in the service, although the adult reflections are sometimes more mature in content. Nursery is available for children 2 and under.

The Great Vigil of Easter: April 4 at 8:30pm

This corporate gathering of worship is the culmination of Holy Week and the beginning of the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection. The liturgy is in four parts and through Scripture, song, and sacrament, unfolds the story of redemption.

The liturgy begins outside on the front terrace with the kindling of the new fire and the burning of the papers from Good Friday. Then we tell the whole story of creation, fall, and redemption, finally shouting out the first joyful “Alleluias!” of Easter and celebrating the Eucharist. Bring a bell to ring! Cow bells, sleigh bells, dumb bells. Bring em!

A “resurrection party” follows in the fellowship hall — we’ll break our Lenten fasts together. Bring food and a fun beverage to share. You can put them on tables in the fellowship hall before the liturgy begins.

Kids are welcome in the service, although the length is close to 2 hours. Nursery is not provided.

Thousands of years ago, the Psalmist recognized something that our modern era is only slowly learning to appreciate again: ritual. If there’s a word in our Christian vocabulary that’s gotten a bad rap in the last couple centuries, it’s “ritual.” Sometimes you hear it as shorthand for mindless acts of devotion that keep religious people busy, or for something quaint and sentimental, like when secular people put up Christmas trees in December.

Psalm 1 speaks of ritual practice, but it’s hardly mindless or sentimental. Granted, it doesn’t deal with “rituals” like religious festivals or fasting. But notice how the Psalm speaks of routine activities we perform with our bodies: walking, standing, sitting, meditating, and that day and night. That’s because the “law of the Lord” is a four-dimensional thing, something lived in space and time (though also contemplated in the mind). Israel’s book of worship opens with this hymn, suggesting that this is somehow what worship—indeed, life—is all about. We train our affections to delight in the law of the Lord.

I think the book of Psalms begins like this because rituals are routine practices that shape who we are at the most fundamental level of our lives. They give shape to our desires and fashion our loves. They are everywhere, and most of the time we aren’t even aware of it when we perform them. As Christian philosopher James K. A. Smith puts it, we are worshipping animals.

You know who really gets this? Starbucks. When I worked there as a barista, their mission was to become our clientele’s “third place,” after their home and work places. So we hoped to seduce coffee-lovers through what might be called a Starbucks liturgy. A smiling barista would greet you from behind the counter as soon as you enter the door, and (if possible) would welcome you by name. After reading the bulletin (our menu), admiring the icons (our quirky wall-art), and making an offering (at the register), you would partake of the elements in your favorite pew (a plush loveseat) with the rest of the congregants enjoying the aroma of the coffee-scented incense. Ideally for Starbucks, this simple routine would become embedded in your daily rhythm of life.

The Christian Church, of course, has its own liturgy or set of rituals, which are designed to channel our deepest desires to the Triune God, who is love. And this Church exists in a world of competing liturgies, like those of Starbucks (or nation states, neighborhood associations, fraternity and sorority houses, corporate structures, etc.), which are always trying to direct our loves toward other things. In this class I want to examine how Christian practices (ancient, everyday-things-people-got-martyred-for practices that we still do today) play this role of formation in our lives.

In our first four weeks, we’ll study in depth the practices of worship and devotion that the Holy Spirit has used over the centuries to shape the church into the Bride of Christ, who adores (imperfectly, in this life) her all-loving Husband. These include our Sunday liturgy (especially the Eucharist), scripture reading, daily prayer, the creeds, the church year, etc. I am an historian of the Bible and ancient church by training, so my hope is that you’ll gain a fresh appreciation for what we do in the present by digging into the past.

In the last four weeks, we’ll turn our attention to the situation in which we find ourselves in the postmodern world. This part of the class will be much more creative. What forces are at work in our culture, at the level of practice, competing for our loves in our corner of the world in 2013? How can we identify and respond to them in a way that is relevant yet rooted in our historic faith? I’m open to seeing what issues are of interest to the group; potential topics include the arts, internet and social media, the institutions in which we work, etc.

So please join me Wednesday nights in July and August to study (or, better, pursue) the Christian life as one of worship. It is something we do body and soul, “day and night.” It is a historic pattern of practices, and the goal to “delight in the Lord.” That is: worship is for lovers.

It’s traditional to reserve the time between 12pm and 3pm on Good Friday to mark the period that Christ spent on the cross. Along with many other churches, Restoration will be open during that time to allow folks to stop in and spend time in prayer. I’d love for as many of us as can make it to come together to reflect on the meaning of Christ’s death and the depth of his love for us. I’ll be leading us through a brief Stations of the Cross service at the top of each hour (at 12pm, 1pm and 2pm), and there will be paper for writing down our confessions and nailing them to a cross that will be in front of the church. Feel free to just drop in for a few minutes or stay as long as you like.

And if you can’t make it to the church on Friday, let me encourage you to take a moment at some point during that time, wherever you are, and reflect on what Christ experienced out of his love for you.

Every year I finish Holy Week and I am so, so, so thankful. I am grateful for a week to remember this story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. Every year I ask Jesus to tell me something new about his death and resurrection– give me a new insight into what you have done for me. Every year this week is a gift from Him to me and to us, His people.

And every year people ask, what is so special about Holy Week? Why is it ‘holy’ as opposed to any of the other 51 weeks? Strictly speaking it is not more holy. All of our days are gifts from God, these no more than others. But it is the deliberate act of telling the story that makes these days and these services different. In all earnestness, you do not want to miss a minute of it. And just to whet your appetite, here is what you can expect…

Palm Sunday: We remember the procession into Jerusalem

The service begins outside. Children will be handing out palms. We will read the story and then we will do the story. As we walk in singing a very old hymn (that we only sing once a year) to the accompaniment of tuba and trombone, the children will circle the sanctuary and we will shout hosanna! Hosanna means ‘save us’ and it was the only appropriate thing to say to a King. They had no idea how He would do it. But they sensed that He had what they most deeply needed. After communion, we will sit and remember everything that happened that week. Our shout of ‘Hosanna’ will become a cry of ‘Crucify Him’ and then we will wait.

Maundy Thursday: We remember the Last Supper and the washing of feet

‘Maundy’ is a corruption of the Latin word, mandatum, which means commandment. It is given to this day as a remembrance of Jesus’ instruction after He washed his disciples feet: “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another.” Having your feet washed by someone else is never comfortable. But it is such a tangible picture of what Jesus did for us by taking the punishment for our sins. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Jesus served his disciples, then He died for His disciples– including you and me. After communion, we will sit and listen to the story of that night. While it is read, the sanctuary will be stripped and draped in black and we will depart into the darkness in silence.

Good Friday: We remember the crucifixion

“Blessed Savior, at this hour you hung upon the cross, stretching out your loving arms…” BCP p. 107 Noonday Prayers The sanctuary will be open from 12-3, the end of the hours over which Jesus was crucified. You will find a large wooden cross laying on the floor alongside hammer and nails. Everyone is invited to sit in silence, to pray, and to confess their sins. You are welcome to write particular sins on the paper and to nail them to the cross. The sanctuary and cross will also be available for silent confession and nailing of sins before the evening service. At 7:30, seven different people from our congregation will reflect on Jesus’ last words from the cross. The setting is dark, the music is somber, the candles go out one by one, the departure is in silence.

The Great Vigil of Easter: We remember the Alleluia

Saturday is a day of waiting and of being still. The service starts late (8:30pm), after dark. It goes long. And it ends in joy. There will be a fire outside on the patio. That is where we gather. As a community, we will tear the pieces of sin-paper off the cross and burn them in the fire. We will light a new candle. We will sing that the light of Christ has broken into darkness. Then we will remember the whole story– what began in beauty and goodness became fallen. But there was always a hope for redemption and making things new. And we are people waiting for the full restoration to come. Then we will baptize new Christians and renew our covenant with God. And then we will shout Alleluia for the first time in a long time. MAKE SURE YOU BRING A BELL!!! And then we will hear the Word of God preached and we will celebrate the first Eucharist of Easter. And then we will have a resurrection party with all the things to which we have said no and all the people with whom we walked this journey of Lent. And then we will sleep!!

Easter Day: We leave on the journey

Easter will be fun, and vibrant, and sad, and full of good-byes. We will have our regular 3 services at 9, 11, and 5 for the last time in this place. We expect that we will also have quite a few guests. We would love for you to be there and for you to bring a friend. If you have anyone in your life who is curious about God or church or Restoration in particular, this is THE MOST logical service to extend an invitation. Your friend is expecting you to!! So why not meet their expectation and shoot ’em that invite. We ‘ll make room on the porch.

Details you need:

Nursery will be provided on Palm Sunday, Thursday, Friday, and Easter. This is for children 2 and under.

There will be no kids small groups on Easter. We will have worship bags to help them connect to what is happening in the service.

Our shuttle will run from the parking lot over I-66 for 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after every service during Holy Week. Please use that parking lot, only.

Most of the services have some element of silence. We will have signs up to guide you. And Saturday has elements of raucous rejoicing– so bring bells and noisemakers and shouts of joy. We’ll tell you when to do it.

The clergy in our diocese have a regular conference call with our bishop as a means to touch base and hear what is happening in churches around our region. As we were wrapping up, Bishop Guernsey exhorted us to a good Ash Wednesday with this illustration–

‘I can spend an hour cleaning my entire house. I hit the high spots, the stuff you’ll immediately notice. I get in to a room and then get out as fast as I can.

I can also spend an entire day just cleaning one room: I move furniture, I get the corners, I use small brushes and fine rags.

The difference between the 2 cleanings is a picture of the difference between the 5 seconds we have for ‘confession of sin’ on a typical Sunday and ‘confession of sin’ on Ash Wednesday.’

Our liturgy tomorrow gives us the gift of a lengthy and detailed prayer of confession. We think about specific relationships and arenas of interaction. We look at specific sins of commission and omission. We look for our part in the brokenness of our planet and the larger picture of fallenness. It’s a thorough examination and a good cleaning. We will gather at 6:30am, noon, and 7:30pm. I encourage you to come as early as you can [the 7:30 will be more full and we will be running our shuttle from the lot over I-66].

The service begins in silence, in darkness. There is opportunity for the imputation of ash as a reminder that we come from dust and to dust we shall return. We sing through Psalm 51 and pray through a thorough confession and give thanks that there is a cross and an empty tomb on the other side of these 40 days.

If you’ve ever been sitting in a dark theater when, suddenly, a single spotlight brilliantly illuminates one character on the stage, then you’ve got a pretty good idea of what Epiphany is all about. Epiphany, which we celebrate this Sunday, is the day when we contemplate and celebrate God’s full revelation of himself in Jesus. The Greek word from which “Epiphany” comes means “to appear, to give light,” or, in the passive voice, “to be revealed.” On Epiphany, we celebrate that Jesus himself is the appearance, the revelation of the fullness of who God is. It’s as if, when Jesus came into the world, a spotlight ripped through the darkness and brilliantly illuminated God in all his love, mercy, justice, and glory.

There are a few key moments in Jesus’ life that we highlight as we celebrate Epiphany: the coming of the Magi, signaling the revelation of the gospel to the Gentiles; the infant Jesus’ presentation in the temple, when Simeon and Anna recognized him and proclaimed him as the Savior; Jesus’ baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, and the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” In each of these moments, it was as though a spotlight shone on Jesus as he was revealed to be the Messiah.

We’ve got two exciting things happening as we celebrate Epiphany on Sunday. We’ll have baptisms at all three services, recalling that the love and forgiveness revealed in Jesus are what brings us into relationship with God. And we’ll debut a new Eucharistic liturgy that comes to us from the Anglican Church of Ireland. It’s a rich and beautiful liturgy, one that captures the themes of Epiphany well. I hope you’ll listen for them.

And I hope you’ll take some time before Sunday to read and consider the post-communion prayer that we’ll pray together. It helps us give thanks for what Jesus, in his life, death, and resurrection, has done for us. And it reminds us that, through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, God continues to reveal Jesus’ glory in and through us:

Father of all, we give you thanks and praise, that when we were still far off you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living, he declared your love, gave us grace, and opened the gate of glory. May we who share Christ’s body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. Now sanctify this water, we pray you, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that those who here are marked with the sign of the covenant may in every way grow up into him who is our Head, Jesus Christ. To Him, to You, and to the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.

This beautiful prayer is one of my favorite parts of our baptism liturgy. It reminds us of what baptism is — a sign of the covenant God makes with us, that he will be our God and we will be his people. It reminds us that the Christian life is one of perpetual growth. And it reminds us that, no matter how young or old we may be when we are baptized, our life of faith is always a response to the grace God has already extended to us.

Here at Restoration, we offer the sacrament of baptism four times a year: on Epiphany Sunday (early January), at the Easter Vigil (March/April), on Pentecost (May/June), and on All Saints Sunday (early November). So Sunday, January 6, is the next opportunity for baptism. If you are interested in baptism for yourself or your child, please contact me by going here, filling out the form, and choosing “Baptism” from the drop-down menu.

For parents of children being baptized, there is a required meeting next Wednesday, December 12, at 7:30 pm at Restoration.

If you have any questions about baptism — what it means, why we do it, whether it is right for you our your kids — please let me know. I love having these conversations!

Oh Advent, how I love what you do to my soul– the chanting psalms, the smell of evergreen, the wreath and candles, the picture frames on the wall.

I love walking with our church in these seasons of deliberate expectation. Can you imagine doing Christmas without Advent? What a loss. How plastic. And desperate. And driven.

Thank you Restoration for being a church that preps well together. I love praying with you, singing with gusto alongside you, and waiting.

On Sunday, I talked about how Jesus is the perfect imprint of the essence of God. When we see Him, we see what God is really like. Then I listed out 7 things that God is not and by corollary, 7 things that God is. In case you missed it, sounded like this…

“But, if God is like this. If He is not absent, or boring, or hard to know, or far off, or irrelevant, or impotent or hard to understand. If He is creative, fully-disclosed, close, critical to what we need, powerful, and intimately clear… If that is what God is really like. Then we have to work hard to not know HIm. We have to deliberately choose to not know Him.”

That’s a different way to think about it, eh? That our friends and family who don’t know God are actively trying to not know Him, to keep Him at a distance. If we think about it, we can understand why– if we are not sure if someone is a good cook, let’s keep him out of the kitchen. If we are not sure we can trust God to run our life, let’s keep him on the other side of that fence, mountain, or website…

Here is my invitation in Advent– when you get tired of actively trying to not know God. When you are ready to stop running the other way… would you consider Jesus? He is the exact imprint of His nature. He perfectly understands what it is to be US. And He has what we most desperately want and need.

When you are tired of keeping God away, come sit in the beauty of Advent and wait. We have a seat for you.

Advent begins this Sunday and things will feel a little different around Restoration. There is anticipation built into everything– the music, the decorations, finding the little lambie thingy. I will preach five times [4 Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve] about Jesus from the book of Hebrews. What difference does He make? Why would God take on humanity and live among us? As we prepare our homes, our gifts, our meals, and our hearts… let’s consider Jesus.

Restoration, I hope that you are someplace warm with family and friends. As we pause to be thankful today, here are some things that come quickly to my mind:

I am thankful for our growing number of APEX and HS kids. I loved watching them announce the bake sale and seeing all the energy they brought to our building project last Sunday. They raised over $600 for toilets. Those are some nice toilets.

I am thankful for our partnership with AFAC and other Arlington churches. Over 3000 people ran the Turkey Trot this morning. I am thankful for our growing awareness of hunger in Arlington and our sense of camaraderie as we seek to serve those who are most vulnerable.

I am thankful for a challenging series on healthy relationships– for the number of people who expressed appreciation at being encouraged to work on healthy sex in marriage.

I am thankful for Little Falls Presbyterian church who will host us after Easter.

I am thankful for over 50 small group leaders who shepherded, prayed, exhorted, and encouraged different small groups all over the metro area this fall.

I am thankful for the 2 IFES staff workers who spoke to us about Turkey and Armenia on Tuesday. There is momentum for another prayer and learning trip to this region in 2013.

I am thankful for 3 new vestry members: Samantha Burg, Drew Bond, and Mac Wheatley. God has given us such quality men and women to serve as elders.

I am thankful for Advent and Christmas Eve– the chance to deliberately wait and deliberately be hospitable and to make room for Jesus.

I am thankful for so many kids who make stuff, read stories, ask piercing questions, and listen to small group leaders who pour their lives into them.

I am thankful for another great trip to serve our friends in West VA and plans to return in 2013!

I am thankful for a generous capital campaign, a beautiful new design, and a good plan for saying good-bye to this space in 2013.

I am thankful for all the work of our Discipleship Task Force and the energy they are applying to plans for 2013.

I am thankful for good friends, for faithful words of truth and love, for celebratory seasons, and moments of sincere compassion.

Happy Thanksgiving, Restoration. Hope you take some time to make your own list today.

-David

I’ll leave you with the proclamation that President Lincoln gave in 1863 that got this holiday started. I am always moved by its depth and beauty.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

Source: The Lincoln Library at the University of Michigan http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/